AN IMPERIAL CARVED BAMBOO ROOT 'PEACH' TRAY QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

the shallow tray carved in the shape of a peach, set to one side with two peaches modelled in the round attached to a long leafy branch bearing peach buds and blossoms and extending onto the interior 

Akita Museum of Art, Akita.
Hosokawa Morisada Collection ten – Chuugokuno bunbougu wo chuushinni [Morisada Hosokawa Collection exhibition – Around the Chinese stationery], Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art, Kumamoto, 1988, cat. no. 50.
Hosokawa Morisada Collection ten I – Kougana bunjinno sekai – Minshinno kaiga to shoseki, bunbougu [Morisada Hosokawa Collection exhibition I – The World of an refined writer – Paintings, calligraphy and stationery in Ming and Qing Dynasty], Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art, Kumamoto, 1992, cat. no. 99.

Morisada Hosokawa, Itsutokuroku [Wisdom in pieces], Tokyo, 1982, no. 42.

A long leaf on the right of the peaches has been broken and restuck, from approx. 0.6 cm of the tip, measuring 1.5 and 3 cm. The tray also has some small chips to the extremities, especially to the reticulated leaves. There are some typical insect holes.
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Carved from a bamboo root, this tray has the shape of a luscious, fully ripe peach. The exquisite fine carving depicts a peach in such detail as to make the fruit come alive. A stout branch grows along one side of the tray, and delicate leaves are depicted curling gently. The veins on the two sides of the leaves are depicted somewhat differently, piquing interest in such minutely crafted details. Other delightful details are the little peaches, soft and charming, and the flower buds depicted about to bloom.

This piece utilises relief and openwork carving to depict a peach, the legendary emblem of immortality, and thus amply resonates with the theme of long life. The exquisite fine carving of the flowers and buds of this peach tray resembles that of the flowers and buds of the prunus water basin carved from bamboo root in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Jiangxin yu xiangong: Ming-Qing diaoke zhan / Uncanny Ingenuity and Celestial Feats: The Carvings of Ming and Qing Dynasties, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2009, cat. no. 9. It is suggested that the Taipei Palace Museum example was carved by bamboo artisans from Jiading during the early Qing dynasty. The curios made by the bamboo artisans of Jiading were so elegant and ingenious that they came to the attention of the court. Their works were presented to the emperors, and some of these artisans, by imperial order, entered the service of the Court.

In terms of technique, also worthy of comparison are two Qianlong period bamboo root carvings of album-leaf boxes and covers, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. The trunk and branches are gnarled and strong, the leaves are carved in minute detail, see Jinxiang yuzhi: Qingdai gongting baozhuang yishu / Qing Legacies: The Sumptuous Art of Imperial Packaging, Macao Museum of Art, Macau, 2000, cat. nos. 11 and 12. These boxes and the present peach tray are diverse works achieving much the same artistic effect.

Such fruit-form carvings were popular during the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong reigns. While these art works had various themes, a common motif was the peach, conveying the idea of long life. One sees the peach motif on porcelain, jade and other media.